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Luke Llyod isn’t like other boys at school but luckily he knows exactly why he doesn’t fit in: he’s half alien. Being half alien comes with many benefits: he can talk to animals and can become invisible. But when the school ‘fathers vs students game’ comes up, the school bully insists on meeting Llyod’s father. However, contacting aliens is never easy.

Luke Llyod is a great twist on classic story of a boy who is struggling to fit in. While the story is definitely geared to younger audiences, it’s a production that anyone can take something away from. The acting is great, especially from such a young cast and stand out performances are made by the Bully and Luke Llyod. The production uses three projectors that are seamlessly integrated, for a production that feels entirely modern in both themes and technology. I recommend it.

My monologue ‘Facon’ is being performed in an amazing show called ‘Bite Me’. There are only four more chances for you to see it! Make sure you get down to Australian Theatre for Young People before it’s gone forever!

Push – Rocks Walk – Stories was held on the 12th and 13th of October as part of the Word Travels Festival. The tour, presented by Penguin Plays Rough, involved audience members being led throughout The Rocks to find writers hiding in nooks and crannies, ready with words.

A medley of literary delights were on offer with readings made by Patrick Lenton, Cait Harris, Phil Spencer and Madelaine Lucas. First to be discovered on my guided tour was actor Libby Ahearn who performed a whimsical parody of Sydney socialites, written by Cait Harris.

After a short walk through the markets, it was Phil Spencer who entertained us next with the tale of his first, last and only shift working in a bar in The Rocks.

After a walk through a windy tunnel we were given the privilege of seeing Madelaine Lucas perform. Accompanied by soft mesmeric guitar, Lucas spoke in a breathy voice of heartbreak and poetic memory, the wind only heightening the experience.

To round off the tour, Patrick Lenton told us a humorous tale of survival in Australia. The entire event was exciting and unique. The readings were filled with distinctly Australian voices, and exposed the public to the literary talent of a new generation of writers.

Luka Lesson hosting with charm and charisma, and a surprising level of talk about shoes.

The NSW Final of The Australian Poetry Slam was held on Friday the 11th of October, as part of The Word Travels Festival. There were feature performances by Joel McKerrow and the highly sexual Ghostboy. Luka Lesson hosted the event with charm and charisma. Thomas Hill took home the NSW title with an evocative poem about abuse. Second place was a tie, resulting in a slam off between Newcastle based Jesse Brand and Bankstown based Zohab Khan. After a fierce battle it was Jesse Brand who progressed to the Australian Finals alongside Thomas Hill.

Three weeks ago I went away to the ATYP National Studio. I met talented people, took in beautiful scenery and churned out some writing I’m pretty stoked about. I could have not generated the work that I did without the unique environment that the National Studio provided.

If you are a young writer I encourage you to apply for the National Studio. I think the call-out will be next year but you can be sure to know by liking/following/stalking Fresh Ink on facebook, twitter and checking the website.

If you are a philanthropist who is wanting to donate to something artsy, I definitely encourage you to support the Fresh Ink program.

Great things have come out of the program such as The Language of Love: a film by young writer Kim Ho. It has reached 489,634 views (at the time of writing) and attracted global attention.

This September my writing will be exhibited in photo-literary collaboration PICTURE 1000 WORDS. The exhibition, which explores the power of images to inspire written creativity, will be exhibited from the 2nd to the 29th of September at the City Library Gallery, Melbourne.

Fascinated by the varying interpretations that people often make of his images, documentary and travel photographer Cam Cope decided to conduct an experiment: to see what happens when authors are invited to respond to his photographs in writing. Playing on the old adage ‘a picture paints a thousand words’, Cam Cope asked each author to respond to a collection of enigmatic photographs from around the world.

None of the writers were told the real world origins of the photos and our imaginations were left to fill in the details (I still do not know where my picture was taken). Each story had to be penned to an exact 1000 word count for authenticity. Which is a detail that I respect but found hard to complete. It was an exciting process to be part of that began back in 2012. My story ‘South Beach’, that will be included, inspired the longer ‘Home’ published in the UTS Anthology.

A short story anthology / photo book of Picture 1000 Words will be launched concurrently to the exhibition in September and be available for order at http://www.camcope.com. All prints are limited edition and available for sale.

Over the next few weeks I will be releasing extracts from the exhibition and hopefully more things along the same vein. Please come along to the opening night! You can RSVP here.

On the cold morning of the 30th of May, I got myself on a plane and made my way to the Emerging Writers’ Festival. While I only had time to see three events, it was awesome. I attended ‘The Emerging Writer Book Launch’, ‘Late Night Live with Literary Magazine -Flash Fiction with Seizure’ and ‘The Pitch’, all of which were amazing. Next year, I will leave myself more time/ plan ahead more.

Highlights include:

-Seeing the amazing Khairani Barokka perform ‘Red’! Amazing performance! Such an incredible person.
-Seeing Ross Onley-Zerkel host ‘The Emerging Writer Book Launch’ with AUSLAN interpreters translating. He was really engaging and a great host.
-Seeing Rebecca Slater (winner of the Monash University Undergraduate Prize for Creative Writing) read from her winning story ‘Stewed Fruit’ at Flash Fiction with Seizure.
-Hearing about all the no-nos of writing at ‘The Pitch’. Also, live tweeting for the first time. It is awkward and stressful – not a highlight
-Finding out about Seizure and that many of the people are from Sydney
-Going to ‘Naked for Satan’ to get $1 tapas. Blows my mind every time.

Wish I could have done a proper write up for all these events but I was letting myself be fully immersed in the Emerging Writers’ Festival and that’s important too. Great to meet so many cool people. Woo!